FOTA set to appoint commercial head?

NEWS STORY04/04/2011

Our sources suggest that the F1 teams association FOTA is on the lookout for someone to head up its commercial division looking after the interests of team sponsors.

Until recently, it was thought that the only body representing sponsors in F1 was that of Formula 100, an organisation for 100 sponsors involved with the sport which had a meeting in September last year. However, as Pitpass revealed last month, according to FOTA's secretary general Simone Perillo, its statutes now include "a range of commitments that allow it to support the positions/goals of teams' partners, ranging from the promotion of the development of Formula One and enhancement of its worldwide image and reputation to cooperation with the FIA and the commercial rights holder."

The ideal person to run the sponsorship association arm of FOTA would be Ekrem Sami, the head of McLaren Marketing who has steered over half a billion dollars of sponsorship to the Woking-based team. However, it is possible that the post could be rotational like several others in FOTA. Either way, it would certainly be another very positive step by FOTA.

Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn currently heads FOTA's technical regulations working group whilst Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner is his opposite number at the top of the sporting regulations working group. McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh is currently FOTA's chairman having taken over from Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo in January last year.